BSP refutes former Minister’s charges

As Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati countered the crisis in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) by disowning the ‘rebel’ former Minister and her one-time close confidant, Babu Singh Kushwaha, the Congress has upped the ante by backing him.

The former Family Welfare Minister, who had to quit in the wake of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam and the mysterious death of deputy CMO Y.S. Sachan, created a flutter in the BSP circles when he accused a senior Minister and two key government officials of plotting to eliminate him.

In a letter to Ms. Mayawati, Mr. Kushwaha alleged that there was a threat to his life from Public Welfare Department Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur and demanded security cover.

Copies of the letter were reportedly sent to the Prime Minister, the Governor, Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation director and the Union Home Secretary.

‘Political drama’

BSP’s State unit president Swamy Prasad Maurya was quick to dub the former Minister’s allegations as a political drama in a press release issued late on Saturday night.

The Congress has supported Mr. Kushwaha’s demand for security cover. State unit president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said on Sunday that his allegations cannot be taken lightly as his “life is in danger.”

Talking to journalists at the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters, she alleged that the former Minister served as a conduit for garnering funds for the BSP.

She alleged that the links of the NRHM scam extended up to the Chief Minister’s office. What had created doubts over the former Minister’s allegations, and raised suspicion over behind the scene activity, was that the letter he (purportedly) wrote to the Chief Minister was in English. Informed sources said the language had never been used as a medium of communication by him earlier. Mr. Kushwaha was himself on a sticky wicket.

CBI probe

Following his resignation in April and the CBI probe in the NRHM scam, the Lokayukta had initiated an inquiry against him for allegedly acquiring disproportionate assets.

Besides, a petition alleging that ‘Babu Singh Kushwaha’ was not his real name is pending before the High Court.

In his statement, Mr. Maurya said that since the law was catching up with Mr. Kushwaha, he had resorted to dramebaazi (drama). When Mr. Kushwaha was a Minister there was no threat to his life from Mr. Siddiqui, the Cabinet Secretary or Principal Secretary (Home).

“It is quite surprising that since he is no longer in the Ministry, he was suddenly talking about his life being in danger,” Mr. Maurya said. Describing the charges as baseless, he said he was no longer an active member of the BSP and not associated with party programmes.

From an administrative point of view, Uttar Pradesh is truly an unmanageable State. Cutting it up into four smaller States as Chief Minister Mayawati has proposed, roughly along regional cultural divides — Bundelkhand, Avadh Pradesh, Purvanchal, and Paschim Pradesh — has its merits as an idea. It could lead to more equitable development of these regions, and relieve the pressure on Lucknow. The idea itself is not new. But politically, it is counter-intuitive — the Chief Minister of a State that elects 80 Lok Sabha members wields much more influence than one that sends one-fourth that number. Even with Ms Mayawati’s confidence that her party would rule all four proposed States, the instability of governments in small States makes it an unattractive political proposition. And administrative manageability could be achieved by a more effective decentralisation. So it seems more plausible that the Chief Minister rolled out her promise of a 1×4 division of U.P. in the knowledge that it will not become reality, at least in the near future. In any case, a green light from the State cabinet is only the first step in a long process that involves an approval by the State Assembly, and then by Parliament.

It is certainly a clever political gambit by Ms Mayawati ahead of the elections, and it has already succeeded in confusing the opposition parties. There are no popular agitations for the division of Uttar Pradesh, yet the idea is not without some resonance in the four regions. The Congress has always opposed the creation of smaller States; its dilemma is all the greater now as its reaction to Ms Mayawati’s move would hold immediate significance for the Telangana agitation. Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party is set against any division of U.P. as his party’s backward caste vote base is not as evenly spread as Dalits are across the four regions. Only the Bharatiya Janata Party favours smaller States, but it too has been taken by surprise. As hot air builds under the proposal, it is bound to deflect attention from other issues, such as the BSP government’s track record and allegations of corruption against the Chief Minister. While there is no doubt that Ms Mayawati has stolen a march over her rivals, it is surprising that for a politician with national ambitions, she seems to have not fully thought through the ripple effect of the move on statehood demands in other parts of the country. There is no denying that the disappearance of single party rule at the centre and the growth of regional politics have brought about a more federal polity, and a more equitable sharing of power. But fragmentation of the country on the basis of ever-narrowing identities hardly represents a progressive idea of India.

 — as yet.

It’s early evening, and a